Stereotypes in Political Reasoning

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Group-based assessments are a core ingredient of many political judgments. Characteristics such as a candidate’s political party, race, ethnicity, or gender influence voter evaluations. Opinions toward a wide range of public policies are shaped by beliefs about and affect toward policy beneficiaries. Of the many group-related attitudes that play a role in political reasoning, stereotypes are among the most important. Stereotypes are beliefs we hold about the characteristics, tendencies, and competencies of social groups. Research in psychology has demonstrated the functional role stereotypes play in helping us navigate through a complex social world, but also that stereotypes can operate automatically, are resistant to updating, and can lead to prejudice and discrimination. Academics across disciplines have grappled with how to best measure stereotypes, notably whether to use explicit or implicit measurement strategies. Despite valid concerns that explicit items might not be answered honestly, due to societal pressures, these measures continue to be common in the political science literature. As for which groups’ stereotypes have been studied, political stereotyping based on gender and race/ethnicity has received much more attention than have other characteristics, such as sexuality, religion, or class. The research has documented a decline in stereotyping in some domains, such as gender stereotyping of candidates, yet a persistence of stereotyping in others, such as the influence of racial and ethnic stereotypes on policy opinions. Scholars have also uncovered the nuanced role that stereotypic thinking can play in political judgment. Factors that influence whether stereotypes are influential include whether an actor displays stereotypic-consistent versus inconsistent behavior, the ideology of the perceiver or the target, and whether stereotypes of an ingroup or outgroups are relevant. A notable emerging line of inquiry focuses on intersectional stereotyping, or stereotyping based on multiple identities simultaneously. Significant progress has been made toward our understanding of stereotyping at the gender-race intersection, especially regarding women of color, as well as the intersecting nature of gender and party stereotypes.